Beat Black Friday

Upgrade Your Life•November 27, 2013

Black Friday has really changed. I’ve been covering it IN DEPTH for the last eight years, and each year, this cat-and-mouse game between retailers and consumers has a different winner. This year, retailers have the upper hand because of something called “deal-staggering.” I’ll get to that in a second. But if you know the tricks, you can still land great deals – even on rarely-discounted Apple products.

The Best Apple Deals Are Not Always At The Apple Store

Apple has its one sale of the year on Black Friday, but you won’t find the best deals at the Apple Store. They’re in the big-box retailers:

· iPad Mini $299 at Walmart – How is this a deal? Because they give you a $100 gift card when you buy the device.· iPad Air $479 at Target – same story: the savings come when they hand you a $100 gift card with the purchase.· iPhone 5C $45 at Walmart – plus, they give you a $75 gift card. You actually make money on the deal!· iTunes Gift Cards – Get a card valued at $100 for just $85 at Best Buy.· Macbook Air – $150 off at Best Buy

Don’t get me started about shopping on Thanksgiving. Retailers have lots of explanations: consumers want to avoid the early morning lines on Black Friday, younger shoppers want to go out on Thanksgiving night, online retailers can sell on Thanksgiving so we should too. Ughhhh!

Deal Staggering

To make matters worse, retailers are now using an age-old trick to maximize profits – confuse the consumer! Many of the big chains have deals that roll out at varying times Thanksgiving night, and then different sales on Friday morning. They are called “staggered deals.” Now consumers not only need to know where to go for the door-busters, they need to know WHEN to go.

I’m going to get a little crochety here and say it: retailers are ruining Black Friday, not to mention Thanksgiving!!

OK my rant is over. Here are the best deals – and yes, many of them are on Thanksgiving. Do with it what you will. I’m staying home for pie and the Pittsburgh-Baltimore game.

I’ll be tweeting deals as I find them all through the holiday season, I’m @ bworley on twitter.